An hour east of Raleigh, North Carolina, lies the primarily African-American society of Conetoe - population 300. The town is surrounded by farmland, but the nearby grocery store is 10 miles away, making it one of the country's many "food deserts," where fresh, nutritious food is not readily accessible.
But during the last decade, it has become the core of a movement for healthy living, driven by the Rev. Richard Joyner, a local pastor. It's an effort Joyner started after watching many of his parishioners die from preventable diseases.
"Diabetes, high blood pressure - when we first got started, we counted 30 funerals in one year," Joyner said. "I couldn't ignore it because I was spending more time in funerals than anything else."
So Joyner started a society garden and sign up local children to help him care for it. Today, his nonprofit, the Conetoe Family Life Center, administer more than 20 plots of land, including one 25-acre site.
More than 80 young people help Joyner plan, plant and harvest almost 50,000 pounds of fresh food a year. Much of this produce is given away to local residents. But the students also sell the food - including their own brand of honey - to businesses and restaurants, raising money for school supplies and scholarships.
The children also study how to cook the food in a nutritious way, steering their families toward better choices at home. As a result, many people are now reaping the benefits of Joyner's ideas. Emergency room visits are down, and the community as a whole is healthier. Joyner also feels the efforts are bearing fruit in a way that's harder to measure. One of the biggest things the youth are learning here are social skills - how to relate to each other and have healthy relationships.
"Growing food calls us to work together," he said. "By nourishing plants, you're nourishing community. It's one and the same."
